The yoga meme even slips into the Wall Street Journal

WSJ MagazineFrom Navy Whistleblower to Warrior Pose is the story of Paula (Coughlin) Puopolo who was the focal point of the U.S. Navy Tailhook scandal in the early 1990s. This story tells her story well and also how yoga allowed her to come to peace with herself and the repercussions from the public airing of her ordeal in a hotel corridor in Las Vegas. She now owns her own yoga studio, Ocean Yoga.

Of all the yoga styles she’s experienced since then, the one Puopolo has focused on is a tantric variety called Anusara, created by the American teacher John Friend in 1997. Its guiding ethos posits the inherent goodness of human beings. Over time, it replaced smoking and prescription pills, and her anger at her attackers receded, until Puopolo decided she wanted to teach others about the restorative powers she found in the practice. “I wouldn’t be talking to you if I didn’t really think I was finally getting some clarity,” she says. “The philosophy opened me up to the idea that I could really stop hating so much stuff.”

The Wall Street Journal keeps a lot of its content behind fees-based barrier so you may not be able to access this story after a few weeks. Enjoy it while you can.